Banning Asbestos in New Zealand, 1936-2016, an 80-Year Long Saga

Our plain-English summary of Banning Asbestos in New Zealand, 1936-2016, an 80-Year Long Saga, by W.I. Glass, R. Armstrong, G. Chen (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2017).

The study

• Authors: W.I. Glass, R. Armstrong, G. Chen
• Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Published: 2017;14(12)
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

The banning by the New Zealand Government of the import and export of asbestos-containing products resulted from the interplay of a number of factors. At a personal level, there were the actions of the asbestos sufferers, their families and support groups. At the political level, there were the activities of progressive trade union groups representing the hazardous trades, such as labourers, construction workers and demolition workers, and at a Government level, there was a positive response to these public health pressures. The Prohibition Order 2016 concerning Imports and Exports (asbestos-containing products) was the outcome of this 80-year long saga.

In plain English

This article is a historical account, not a medical study. The authors traced how New Zealand moved from a first official warning about asbestos in 1936 to a 2016 government order banning the import and export of asbestos-containing products. They described three decades of little government action while asbestos use spread. They also summarised earlier reports. In a 1969/1970 Department of Health survey of 201 asbestos workers, 71 of 108 workers tested were working at unacceptable dust levels, and 17 of 101 workers X-rayed showed pleural changes. In a later union review of 86 members who had worked at an asbestos cement factory, 13 had died from mesothelioma. A 1991 government committee report noted 174 cases of mesothelioma. The authors wrote that the two Canterbury earthquakes and the Pike River mine explosion in 2010 and 2011 had a significant impact on later asbestos legislation. The authors concluded that the Government banned the importation of most asbestos-containing products after responding to external pressures, with leadership passing from one institution or organisation to another.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Historical narrative article tracing events, organisations and policy over 80 years, drawing on government documents, union publications, press reports and court records cited in its references; not original medical research
• Who was studied: New Zealand's government departments, trade unions, asbestos-exposed workers, their families and support groups, 1936 to 2016
• Exposure: Asbestos in New Zealand: asbestos cement products, construction, insulation, brake linings and other products; chrysotile was quarried in the Nelson region until 1963
• Main results:
  • The authors described about thirty years after the 1936 warning with little government action to alert industry or the public
  • As recounted from the 1969/1970 Department of Health survey of 201 asbestos workers: using a Threshold Limit Value of 2 mppcf, 71 of 108 workers tested were working at unacceptable levels, ranging from 0.3 to 10 mppcf. Of 101 workers X-rayed, 17 showed pleural changes and there was one case of asbestosis.
  • As recounted from the 1988 to 1990 South Island Labourers' Union investigation of 86 members who had worked at the local asbestos cement factory: 13 had died from mesothelioma, 3 from lung cancer, 7 from asbestosis, one from COPD and one from pancreatic cancer
  • The 1991 Asbestos Advisory Committee report acknowledged 174 cases of mesothelioma and an unknown number of lung cancers and cases of asbestosis
  • The National Asbestos Register, established after that report, holds over 20,000 names in the exposure register and 1500 in the disease register
  • The authors judged that the two Canterbury earthquakes and the Pike River mine disaster had a significant impact on later departmental restructuring and asbestos legislation. A government inventory of asbestos imports and exports followed, and then a decision to ban imports.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the Government ultimately banned the importation of most asbestos-containing products in response to external pressures

Related studies

• Australia's Ongoing Legacy of Asbestos: Significant Challenges Remain Even after the Complete Banning of Asbestos Almost Fifteen Years Ago — M. Soeberg, D.A. Vallance, et al. (2018)
• A ban on asbestos must be based on a comparative risk assessment — M. Camus (2001)
• Rural public health policy models to address an evolving environmental asbestos disaster — S.W. Kuntz, C.A. Winters, et al. (2009)
• Should Canadian health care professionals support the call for a worldwide ban on asbestos? — J. Siemiatycki (2001)
• A ban on asbestos: is now the time? — (2001)
• History of Asbestos Ban in Hong Kong — C.K. Wong, S.H. Wan, et al. (2017)

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